Thank-you to all members of the school community who were so considerate and understanding of our implemented measures this morning. Thank-you as well for all the kinds words of support.
Current situation, Monday 16th March, 7.00pm:
- No positive cases of coronavirus within the school community have been reported to me at this time. Please bear in mind that no tests are being administered to confirm the illness at this time unless absolutely necessary.
- There are no members of teaching staff displaying symptoms at this time.
- Approximately one third of the pupils were absent today primarily due to concerns about catching the virus, symptoms being present within the household or precautionary measures taken due to underlying medical issues within the family.
- Guidance was received at 12.15pm today from Minister of Education including instruction for schools to prepare for an extended closure. Later this evening he added that this was likely to be for the remainder of this academic year.
- Principals of the local primary school met this morning and agreed on consistent measures to allow staff to best prepare and resource their schools. Please see attached letter. This has resulted in a staff development day that we had scheduled for the end of May being changed to this Friday, 20th March. We apologise for the inconvenience this will cause but is essential to allow a bit more time for staff to prepare for an impossible task.
- No further guidance has been received from the Education Authority since 6pm on Friday.
- Earlier this evening the Prime Minister upgraded guidance to include anyone with a "new, continuous" cough or high temperature is advised to self-isolate for 14 days.
- Any pupil who has a "new, continuous" cough or high temperature will be sent home immediately.
Below you will find updated guidance regarding arrangements and additional precautions we are taking and changes to plan for next week.
- If you are planning to keep your child off, either because they display symptoms or as a precaution, please contact me through the school app. Please do not use the school FaceBook page as the app is a most efficient way for me to maintain attendance records at this time.
- After-school clubs will run as normal on Wednesday and Thursday
- Annual Review meetings scheduled for this week will go ahead as planned at this stage
- We will maintain procedures re hand washing. This will include pro-actively encouraging children to do so at several times during the day including upon arrival and leaving.
- Until further notice, parents will be restricted from entering the school building unless absolutely essential.
- Parents wishing to visit classrooms to speak to the teacher or who have a meeting scheduled will be asked to wash their hands.
Additional precautions we can take within our school community:
- Pupils with symptoms or pupils with parents displaying symptoms should not be sent to school.
- Parents of pupils with underlying medical conditions should consider if they wish to send their child to school.
- Grandparents or parents with underlying medical conditions should consider arrangements for collection.
- Additional cleaning staff have been employed over the last month
- Additional hand-washing facilities are available including in every classroom
- a cycle of regular cleaning of door handles has been implemented over the last fortnight.
- From Monday, visitors will not be permitted into school unless they agree to wash their hands
- Class trips planned for this week are postponed.
- We will not be sending children to swimming lessons this week.
Updates and guidance will be sought by school from the Department of Education. We will continue to monitor the Public Health Agency’s website for advice.
Any updates will be communicated via our school app, website, social media and if needs-be, letter and text.
Thank-you for your understanding and cooperation at this very challenging time.
J Gray
Principal
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